Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Luciana L Gonzalez's avatar

Thanks Christina for taking the time to do this. I speak on behalf of several of my Little Gables neighbors who support annexation for various reasons. 1. Removes the enclave that has been created and goes against County rules (Little Gables is surrounded by CG on three sides and sticks out like a sore thumb) 2. Increased quality of police and fire. County fire station is over 2 miles away and the police station is about 8 miles away. Just think of response times, which have been recorded in numerous instances to be lacking. 3. The tax increases for my home is estimated to be around $750 if annexation happens. My membership alone at the country club costs me about $900 more for not being a resident, so that math alone is a no-brainer. That doesn't even include Youth Center after school, summer camps, Venetian pool, etc. 4. AirBnB's are proliferating in LG, this is taking away the fabric of the neighborhood and I'd much rather have neighbors instead of visitors. This is a single family neighborhood for the most part 5. Future development along LG's corridors (SW 8th Street and LeJeune primarily) can be developed at 250 units per acre under the new state law, Live Local Act. This has the potential to create out of scale development surrounding LG AND CG. Under CG rules, the allowed density for these projects would be much lower 6. More tree canopy would be welcome as in CG.

I could go on and on and it is so hard for me to believe that people in my neighborhood are against this. I can only hope that CG residents can see the benefit of at the very least exploring the idea because at the end of the day, this is a straw vote and there is still a long process ahead for annexation to become a reality.

Expand full comment
Paul A.'s avatar

I understand both sides of this discussion. To be honest, as a Coral Gables resident, I do not think that annexation will have much of an adverse effect on the services I receive or the city's finances over the long term. I do recognize that having some say in development of the commercial property in Little Gables is a benefit to the city and to the area in general, but as it stands right now, if someone were to come in with a live local project there is little that Coral Gables could do to stop it. That said, because of the established limits in the city's zoning code, I believe that live local would result in a lower height and less dense project in Little Gables if the city were to annex, as opposed to if it were to remain under county jurisdiction.

I do not understand the effort to kill the process with the straw ballot. There is an established process that all stakeholders must follow. If our elected officials, who we elected to represent us and who claim that they are listening, feel that residents oppose annexation, why not just abandon the process? All it takes is a resolution. The straw ballot has been introduced at a late stage in the process. Why not just let the process play out? As to Little Gables, If the majority of residents oppose annexation they will vote it down. Thus far, the community has met the initial 20% requirement, why disenfranchise those that who signed the petition? This is undemocratic.

You might say that the straw ballot is a form of listening. It may very well be, to a certain extent. However, I see an element of abdication of responsibility by our commission. When I vote this week, I will vote "YES," solely because I think the codified process should be followed.

Expand full comment
29 more comments...

No posts